They escaped the war, but now they're in debt... 

In 2016, Sirat formed a Refugee Support Team to help resettle five Syrian refugee families who arrived in Hyde Park in Chicago, a total of 30 individuals. They all owe money to the International Office of Migration (IOM) to pay the loan for their airfare to the United States. This means that they are all starting their lives in the US in debt, owing about $1,000 per family member that they must pay off monthly. 

We want to raise $60,000 to completely relieve this debt and establish their new lives here. The money will go towards paying off their refugee travel loans, sustaining a weekly adult ESL class, and providing the adults with other resources to advance their careers. Our short-term goal is to pay off all the IOM loans first. These loan repayments are paid to the U.S. State Department. The State Department then transfers this money back to the U.S. Refugee Resettlement program so that other refugees can benefit from IOM loans to cover the costs of their transportation to the U.S.  Once these loans are repaid the families will also have established credit history in the US, something they currently lack. Our long-term goal is to welcome these families into our community, help them attain financial independence, and assist them in their transition to life in the U.S.

These families have gone through so much already... 

 By the time a family settles into an apartment in our neighborhood, they have been through 2-4 years of highly insecure housing arrangements, ongoing financial uncertainty, and limited—or no—schooling for their children. The adults have put careers, education and gainful employment dreams on hold to seek sanctuary for their families. 

Resettlement agencies can only assist these families initial transition for the first three to six months from the time they arrive. In this short time, the families must:

• Orient themselves to health, school, and transit systems and government agencies,
• Learn English from scratch,
• Enroll their children in school,
• Find employment,

...all while adjusting to a totally new culture and attempting to fill the many gaps that agencies can not possibly fill. We want to pick up where these agencies  left off and make sure these families do not fall through the cracks. If we do not help the adults learn English and attain gainful employment now, their children's futures will suffer in the long term and the families will remain below the poverty line.